80's electronic at its best, February 1, 2002

Listening to a lot of electronic music the past 4-5 yrs has only helped me realise how spectacularly influential Fad Gadget was. And did I mention way, way ahead of his time?Sure, the Gadget do have this characteristic 80s "feel" reminiscent of undeground electronic pioneers from that time. But man, do they stand out. When you compare this one man band's releases with , say, early albums of Depeche Mode you understand what kind of a genius Frank Tovey was. This is music so intelligent and so irresistibly groovy and catchy you'd have to be completely unitiated musically to not be hooked by it. Speaking of catches, Fad gadget's music was and still is intended for intelligent people. It's not just the music itself of course. If it were "only" that we'd speaking of an entirely different concept. What makes the deciding difference between Tovey and other electronica creators from his time or even now is his lyrics. Instead of opting for the usual...

Much can be said of this seminal advent-gaurde-electro-pop act FAD GADGET, a.k.a. Frank Tovey. As one of first artist to be on the infamous Mute label, founded by Depeche Mode's producer Daniel Miller. Fad has broke ground as a trend setter in the early 80's SynthPop scene influencing today's Electronica and Gothic genres. This 2 cd album offers those hard-to-find singles and b-sides like 'Ricky's Hand' and 'Lady Shave', also rare re-mixes like Ensterzende Neubauten's re-mix of 'Colapsing New People.' Very enjoyable for those Hard-Core Electro-Heads!

If you enjoy 80's pop music, electronic, punk, industrial, or even gothic, Fad Gadget is the band to listen to for they influenced many undoubtedly. Music just isn't made like this anymore. Fad Gadget was not afraid to put a gothic sounding singer with an electronic band. It was late 70's early 80's new age art rock at its best.